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THE CAREER AND THE WORDS 

OF WASHINGTON 



Coi'tainly at a tinio liUe this, tlioush wp may hopn to say littlo. if 
anything, new. we can. whether Ifemocrats or Kepiiblicans. wirhoiit 
de!)ale or controversy, take couusel with ourselves as to some of the 
I'nderlyin;;- consideraticns whicli have made our Nation wliat it is. and 
which, it' i'dliered to. will kcop it stronji' and righteous and capable of 
rcsolvinjr tl;e dorU)ts and surviviny; tlie dangers lil;,?ly to confront us as 
time socs on : and to v.-hat wellsprinsr so refreshiris; and invigorating 
can wo l;etier have reconrse than to tlie career ant! to the words of 
Wasiiingtcn I 



ADDRESS 

OF 

HON. OSCAR AV. UNDERWOQ]) 



DEI.n'iCItED AT THE ANNTAL BAKQUi'-T Ol' TIIIC 

STATE ^'OCIETV OF THE CINCINNATI. HELD 

IN FHILADELPHIA, PA., ON ^VA.SII- 

INGTON'S BlUTHUAY 



FEP.RUARY 22, 1912 



33r.:{2— lOGT' 



WASITINcnOX 

11) IJ 



.U5Cs> 




Gift 
Author 

<fWMiU 

J*N 11 ;9/8 



A D D R ESS 

OF 

IIOX. OSCAR W. UNDEEWOOl). 



'• Surely by no other body could this great aniii versa ry of the 
Nation lie more apiiropiiately eelebrated than by yc^mr society 
of siHendid traditions, for Washington not only toolv an impor- 
tant part in its formation. l)ut. in large measure, beeame its 
directing he.-id during the early days when its continued exist- 
ence was tlireatened Iiy advers-e criticism. 

"Those of you wiio enjoy membership in tliis society may well 
be congratulated, for it is a privilege greater tlian memiiership 
in any order of aristocracy or nobility of however disi ingnislied 
ranic or ta-igin. because eligibility for it means that you can 
trace your ancestry back to the great men who served this Na- 
tion in an accomplishmeni which has had more to do than any 
other single event with the shai)ing of the political progress 
not only of this country but of the world. 

IMPORT.VXCE of COilMEMOKATlVE EXEKCISKS. 

"All of us. however, that have not this privilege may have a 
share which should not yield even to you in gratitude to those 
who wrought such monientous things. And it is on such occa- 
sions as this, which are altogether too few, that duty and 
interest as well should prompt us to resolve to see to it that 
grave matters aflectiHg the public welfare shall not hereafter, 
as often as they have lieen in the past, be subordinated to our 
personal or iiolitical affairs. In such a way we shall make the 
wisest use of this day. 

" The place and the time are not appropriate for us to at- 
tempt anything like an inventory of our assets as a people, for, 
as men of different political faith, we might not be in accord as 
to how the inventory should be taken. There are some acquisi- 
?.a5:'.2— 10G77 3 



tions we bavo made wliicli. from my rioint of view, are to be 
regarded as niifortunate, since in securing tliem it inay be said 
that we liave overloolced wliat concerned our national well- 
being. All of us at times are capable of forgetting tbat things 
in life have a relative as well as an absolute value. If, in ob- 
taining something, we have lost something, we are not, in mak- 
ing up the items of our resources, whether national or personal, 
to disregard the debits; but we are to have a balance sheet so 
that we know how it really is with u.s. The headlong rush for 
possessions or advantage exposes us to the risk of many a 
rough fall; and as time goes on the homely adage. 'All is not 
gain that is got into the i)urse.' has a widening application to 
nations as well as to men. 

Suii.iECT Stated. 
"Yet certainly at a time like this, though we may hope to 
say little, if anything, new, we can, whether Democrats or Re- 
publicans, without debate or controver.sy. take counsel with our- 
selves as to some of the underlying considerations which have 
made our Nation what it is, and which, if adhered to, will keep 
it strong and righteous and capable of resolving the doubts and 
surviving the dangers likely to confront us as time goes on; 
and to what wellspring so refreshing and invigorating can we 
better have recourse than to the career and to the words of 
Washington! Some of us have no great respect for the so- 
called referendum; but we all ought to approve of a referendum 
of what politically is new and untried and uncertain and of 
doubtful worth to his counsel, from which proceciled always light 
and judgment. 

Honor IIoll of the Founders. 

" It is an inspiration to the loyal American citizen merely to 
call the roll of the men in wliose brain and heart was born the 
concei)tion of the Ilepublic. who laid its foundations so deep and 
lasting that there is no height to which we might not build, 
whereon to keep burning a great light for our guidance and for 
the guidance of all people ; who drew a Declaration of Independ- 
ence which voiced, as it has never been voiced before, the long- 
ing of men for political liberty; who carried the Colonies 
through a well-nigh hopeless struggle; who devised the Articles 
33.532— 10G77 



of CoafeLleratimi — that ' finii league of frifiulshiii ' — a? a. 
niodns vivtMidi for a people mulor anus, and then supplemented 
it with a Constitution that welded together into an indissoluble 
Union the interests to which war liad liiven only temporary co- 
hesion — a Constitution whieh. under the interpretation of John 
Marshall, was to be, as he said, a docunsent not of delinitlon but 
of enumeration, and therefore of increasing and broadening sij:;- 
nificance such as perhaps no other siuiilar wrilini;' before has 
ever had. 

'■'There were giants in the earth in those days." In no other 
period in our history, ov perhaps of the history of tlie world, 
were there gathered together so many gifted men. each with his 
special capacity for contribution to the success of a natioifs 
cause, as Washington. JelTerson. Franklin, ^Madison, Patrick 
Henry, the Adamses, Edmund Randolph. liobert Morris. Charles 
Carroll, of Carrollton, and James Wilson, too. so intiniat(>ly iden- 
tified with this Commonwealth of Peunsylvan.ia, and all the other 
heroes of disci)utent, of war, of reconstruction, or of the estab- 
lishment of the Tnion. 

'"To sliine at all in such a galaxy was to shed a great light; 
but the calm and steady light of "Washington was, l)y conunon 
consent, the brightest in glory there. In peculiar c(piipment 
for each class of work required to be done, he may have been 
outshone. The protest against English misrule may have come 
from better-disciiilined minds than his; even more brilliant mili- 
tarj- resourcefulness llian he posse.ssed tliere may have been; in 
constructive statesmansiiip he perhaps had lils superiors; in 
knowledge of the political [iroblems to be worked out by tlio 
American Colonies through a constitiUloual form of governn)eut, 
his insight was not always the clearest. 

Ci:mt!!ai, Ficip.K OF Tin-: TiMiis. 

"Nevertheless, it can be confidently said that Wa.shinglon 
combined in himself, more than did anyone else, a greater 
number of those unique (jualities esscntird to u;ake what might 
easily have been a crude experiment of revolt a success upon 
which the world still looks witli increasing admiration. In tlie 
prosecution of Mie war v.-ith unrivaled p;itieufe under disheart- 
ening conditions and numberless privations and cruel disap- 
3a.j:'.2— 10077 



6 

poiiiliiK'nls: ill liis conU-i))uli(!n to llie steps Icadius up ^"^ ll'e 
Coiistitutioim] Convention, during all the time from the first 
meeting of the Virginia and Maryland commissioners down to 
the calling and holding of the convention; in his advice to that 
convention and in his lu'csiding over it; in his administration 
of the Presidency, where he pnt aside the petty things of iiolitics; 
in his relinquishiiient of otiice when, for the aslcing, it was 
within Ills possession during all the years of his life, Washing- 
ton, in intinence and wisdom and judgment, is the central figure 
of those times, and in just fame stands alone. And should we 
ask ourselves to-night which of these men could have been 
spared in the work tliat was accomplished, we coirld not, with 
all our ;idmiratiou for any other man. conceive the outcome 
iis it was witliout the cnnunanding presence of AVashington. 

" He did not I'luesee all the perplexing problems with which 
.we have to dc il to-day in our tariff or in our great corporations, 
in our currency, in our foreign possessions, or in a reconcilia- 
tion of the rights of lal)or and capital; he did not fores(>e the 
vast task we all have, whether native or foreign born, of taking 
the new material constaidly coming to our shores aiul assimilat- 
ing it into our growth and molding it into a loyal and intelli- 
gent support of our institutions; he did not foresee the menace 
of destructive socialism nor the extent to which, unfortunately, 
we were to go in substituting parly interest for iioliticid principle, 
tliough as to this he g;ive us paternal warning. Nevertheless ho 
did foresee suliicient of our problems to be able to commend to 
us a course the lu'iuciples of which, if steadily adhered to, 
should bring us safely through all the perils to which we may be 
exposed. While he did not outline the by-laws, so to speak, 
that nuist, from time to time, he framed and adopted for the 
detailed life of this country, he <lid understand as no one else 
understood the organic principles upon which were to rest the 
security and the welfare of our national life. And subject al- 
ways to his urgent advice against permanent alliances with 
foreign powers, like a high- priest among men he preached the 
gospel of tolerance, of benevolence, of peace, of reasonableness, 
and of righteousness tow;;rd all peoples. 
S35o:i — 10G77 



*' Ndl wiiliout faults. I'.o!: willitml liiiiitalioiis of iutt^'Iligt'iice 
or of tlioso qualities which so to make un tlu' porfoct uuui, 
Washiiij,'toii niaiiifcsted in word and doed the best that has gone 
to dignify and make great and honored Anserican manhood. 
When there is tak(>n into consideration what he did for us and 
for the iieoiiles of the earth tha^ have followed or are ready to 
adopt our example by transferring so nuieli of his eoneentions 
and aceonipllshment as may be made to take root and grow in 
their soils; what he did toward establishing the principle that 
men ha.ve the eapaeity to govern themselves, ;iud that those 
cho.'^'en to represent the people are (o be their s(>rv;!iits and not 
their rulers, and tliat publie officials are engr.ged iu the admiu- 
i.siration of a trust; whi'n we eonsid(>r that bid for his Iriuni- 
pl'.aut leadership this Kepublie would never, perhaps, have been 
born, and that but for the example of his suecessful adnuidstra- 
tion of the I'resldeney the experiment of self-govenimenl udght 
have eollaiised or retrograded into a kingdom, we must all agree 
tiiat Washington performed a service for us and ojir p;;sterily 
and for all the nations of the earth greater tl'.an any like 
service ever performed by the nobiiiiy or the genius or the Siierl- 
fice of any other one man. 

F.\I!l:wi;ll Ai)i!i;!:.si-;. 

"To app.reciate the bold outlines of his personality and at 
the same time the patriarchal attitude he was entitled to as- 
sume toward the Republic which was s^o much of his own mak- 
ing, we have only to read liis Farewell Address — that Vionderful 
product of affection and intelligence and insight. We can not 
think of it as written liy any one of his contemporaries. The 
tone of it forbids this. Not one of them could have made use, 
of its language without being open to ihe charge of affeclatiou 
or arrogance. The words of dignity and iu.junction and warn- 
ing came naturally from him, for they were tlie words of the 
guardian to the Nation as his ward. or. as he said, of an old and 
affectionate friend. He v\as the (Gamaliel at whose feet tlio 
people sought wisdom. He was. in truth, the Father of his 
Comitry. as he enjoined upon us all those virtues and i)racl!ces 
which can keep iis strong and just and prosperous at home and 
respected in the councils of the world. 

33532—10077 



Lessons of His Life — Ciiaractesistics. 
" So iiiany are tlie lessons we can gather from bis life and his 
work that one is jnstifledin saying that on an occasion like this 
(lie time is too limited even to enumerate them. Yet there are 
one or two things which we may well recall at a time when so 
many of ns are disposed to seize upon the first expedient which 
seems to make for popularity or progress and when old-fash- 
ioned truths give way to strange doctrine ; for, unlike many of 
us, he did not, in conduct or In speech, seem of the view that a 
tiling fs neeessariiy valuable because it is new. Courageous, but 
regardful of the value of precedent, certainly with Truth it can 
be said tjiat he had what a distinguished foreign diplomat re- 
cently declared we as a people have — the tenacity of tradition 
and the audacity of progress. 

" The lines of calm serenity and determination along which 
Washington worked out his life were rarely varied. I'ersistent 
of purpose, he was never obstinate or unreasonable in judgment 
nor without the realization that the means to be selected must 
have reference to the end to be attained; he did not make of 
consistency a fetich, but change of plan with him was a matter 
of deliberation and conviction; he accommodated the plans of 
liis official life, as he did his plans as a general, to the need of 
the hour, making use of all the resources he could command for 
the purpose of influencing men l)y conversion to a course of 
action believed by him to favor the successful outcome of worthy 
effort. Not without a shrewdness far beyond that which we are 
accustomed to attiibute to him, he never resorted to measui'es 
or methods that were cheap or beneath his dignity. Seeing groat 
.visions, he was no mere dreamer of dreams; and what he ac- 
complished for political liberty in association with the develop- 
ment of our national prosperity is an object lesson to us all 
that the ideal may go hand in hand with the practical for the 
realization of its highest ambition. He v,-as patient and for- 
bearing under unjust censure and coarse libel, and displayed, 
charity toward friends and enemies as each class had the need 
for it ; he could be what so many of us find it impossible to be — 
temperate in speech and conduct and considerate of the opinions 
of others; but wl'.en the occasion forbade it he made no sur- 
33.532— 10G77 



render to cciuproniise. , The choice of no party for elevation to 
otiice and the foe of undue partisan 2a?al, he recoguized the lilieii- 
liood that i^arty lines must be reckonetl with : he adhered always 
to the fiindaiueutal things upon which the character of nations 
must be built if they are to be enduring: and above all he has 
never been weighed in the balance by posterity and been found 
wanting in that sincerity which, in the end, is the convincing 
argumeui, the best strategy, and the surest way to keep our self- 
respect. 

DiSTiXGrisHiXG CoMMOX Sexse and Pka<tic-al TtBX OF Mi>-D. 
•' His distinguishing common sense and practical turn of mind 
served him well in the admiuigtration of his high office. Few, 
if any, mere generalities or quixotic schemes for action were 
su^ested by him ; but, on the contrary, he seemed to be master 
of the underlying principles of the business needs of the coun- 
try as he had been of the plans of his campaigns. At a time 
when so many of us are disposed to put upon the statute book 
nostrums for relief from our industrial and financial and eco- 
nomic evils, it will be well for us to call to mind the striking 
contrast between the moderate volume and temiierate character 
of laws enacted during his Presidency and so much of our 
present-day legislation of the exi)erimeutal sort, reflecting often 
merely a view of to-day that is likely to be the heresy of to- 
morrow, and attempting to deal with the oltjectionable tendency 
before it is seen that it will not be arrested of itself, or before 
we have sufficient understanding of it to be in a position to 
know or apply the appropriate remedy. Accordingly the rec- 
ommendations and the legislation of Vrashiugton's administra- 
tion were not along guesswork lines: but the elements of sober- 
ness, patience, aud wisdom which he so invariably manifested 
were typical of the plans he favored and adopted to bring order 
out of financial and industrial chaos, promote industry among 
the people, and restore their energies by opening up new sources 
of revenue and prosperity, and by asstiring men that they 
should gather and be seciure in the possession of the harvest 
of their labor. In all this he held true to the promise of his 
messages to Congress and to all his utterances and acts, and 
justified the expectation of the Nation — that he was to be as 
33.532—10077 



10 

fiiilbful and intelligent a sorvaut in (ho work of [H>ace a;-; h3 
had been amid tlie slrnggle for indeijeiidence. 

•■ While believing that free intercourse v.ith nations wonld, 
to u^e his own words, promote i)o!iey. harmon.y, and i'.iterest, he 
did not part company with statesmansliip, for he added : 

" There can be no grenter error llian to expect or calculate upon real 
favors from nation to ration; it is an illusion v.'hicli experience must 
cure and which a just pride ought to discard. 

CO-OKDINATE BeANC'HES OF THE GOVERNMENT TO Be IIelD tN 
TlIEiR llESI'ECilVE P.OUNDAIUE.S. 

"There is a grefit need. too. for ns in this day when cnnslilr.- 
tional restraint has become irlvsome to many, never to turn a 
deaf ear to the stirring appeal of Washington to his iieojilc — 
that the departments into wliich onr Government is constitn- 
tionally dividcil shall bo kept witli deternrined hand vritiiin tlicir 
re.speetive boundaries. Speaking here not as a i;arty man but 
as a citizen of the Iiopublic, my observation and rellection have 
shown me how treaclieronsly easy is tlie transition,' from cen.trali- 
Kation of government — which those of the Itepublican Party set 
so much store by and whicl) a good many of us Democrats are 
inclined to acquiesce in — to a iiersonalization of govei'nnient r.nd 
then to usurpation of government. 'Washington in all his career 
uttered no greater truth than when he declared that a constitu- 
tional government, under such circumstances, becomes almost, as 
a matter of course, a despotism. For a long time, fortunately, 
this was the view of the American people; and when they liave 
departed from it a long and onniious step has besn taken, not 
only ui the commission of error but toward establishing evil 
precedent. 

"►Said he in his stately l.anguage: 

" It is important, lil-icwise. that the l!al)its of thinking in a fi'ee 
.country should inspire caution in ihose intrusted v>fith it., administra- 
tion, to confine themselves within their rcrspective constitutional spheres, 
avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach 
upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the 
powers of all the departments in one. and thus to create, whatever Ihf 
form of government, a real despotism. A .just estimate of that love of 
power and proneness to abuse it, Vviiich prednmiuatos in the human 
heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The neces- 
sity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing 
and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the 
guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been 
evinced by experiments ancient and modern ; some of them in cnr coun- 
335.32 — 10G77 



11 

try and nnilrr our own eye-:. To pro^rvo t'lom must Uo as noiessary as 
to instifiitP them. If. in tlio opinion of tlio people, tbe (li.stribiitlon or 
modification of tlie constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let 
it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution 
designates. But let tlicre l)e no change by usurpation : for though this, 
iu one instance, may be ttie instrument of good, it i.s the customary 
weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must 
always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient 
beneflt which the use can at any time yield. 

" Yoar.s aftei'\A-ards Daniel Wel)!<ter moroly luit into the 

nuitcliloss oloynence of his paraphrase this tlioii.tilit when he 

directed his protest at apparently so .sliu;ht a departure l'ro]n 

this principle as the projiosal of the President to take from tlie 

jiroper Cahinet oflicer the right to determine upon the depository 

of the fu'nds of the T'nited States: 

" It was strongly and forcibly urged yesterday Iiy the honorable 
IVtember from Soutli Carolina that the true and only mode of preserv- 
ing any -balance of power in mixed governments is to keep an exact 
l)alance. This is vAy true, and to this end encroachments must be 
resisted at tlie first step. The question is, therefore, whellier, upon the 
true principles of the Constitution, this exercise of power liy the Presi- 
dent can be justified. Whether tlie consequences be prejudicial or not, 
if there be an illegal exercise of power it is to be resisted iu the proper 
manner. Even if no harm or inconvenience results from transgressinr;; 
the boundary, the intrusion is not to be suffered to pass unnoticed. 
Every encroachment, great or small, is important enough to awaken 
the attention of those who are intrusted with the preservation of a 
constitutional government. We are not to wait till great public mis- 
chiefs come, till the Gover-imeut is overthrown, or liberty itself put into 
extreme jeopnrdy. We should not be worthy sons of our fathers were 
we so to regard great questions affecting the general feeling. ■ Those 
fathers accomplislied the Uevolution on a strict question of principle. 
The Parliament of Great Britain asserted a right to tax the Colonies iu 
all cases whatsoever; and it was precisely on this question that they 
made the Revolution turn. The amount of taxation was triUiug. but 
the claim itself was inconsistent with liberty ; and that was. in their 
eyes, enough. It was against the recital of an act of Parliament, 
rather than against any suffering under its enactments, that they toolt 
up arras. They went to war against a preamble. They fought seven 
years against a declaration. They poured out their treasures and their 
blood like water in a contest against an assertion which those less 
sagacious and not so well schooled in the principles of civil liberty 
would have regarded as barren phraseology or mere parade of words. 
They saw in the claim of the British I'arliament a seminal attitu<lo of 
mischief, the germ of unjust power ; they detected it, dragged it forth 
from underneath its plausil)le disguises, struck at it ; nor did it elude 
either their steady eye or their well-directed blow till thoy had extir- 
pated it and destroyed it to tbe smallest fiber. On this question of 
principle, while actual suffering was yet afar off, they raised their flag 
against the power to which, for purposes of foreign contest and sul> 
rogation, Rome, in the height of her glor.\-, is not to be comjiared ; a 
power which is dotted over the siu-face of the whole globe with her 
possessions and military posts, whose morning drum beat, following the 

33532— 10G77 



12 

sun aud koepins company with the hours, circles the earth witli 0119 
contiuuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England. 

" The necessity of holding strictly to the principles upon which free 
governments are constructed, and to those precise lines which tix the 
partitions of power between different branches, is as plain, if not as 
cogent, as that of I'esisting. as our fathers did, the strides of the parent 
country against the rights of the Colonies ; because, whether the power 
wliich exceeds its just limits be foreign or domestic, whether it bo the 
oucroachment of all branches on the rights of the people, or that of 
one branch on the rights of others, in either case the balanced and well- 
adjusted machinery of free government i.s disturbed, and, if the derange- 
ment go on, the whole system must fall. 

Character of Washington. 

"At all times and amitl all coiitlitioiis Washington rang irue 
to the note of a si)leudid manhood. Hypocrisy and a trallifking 
in expedients for popular applause no more match with his lifi' 
than the crime of murder. He had little of the captivating style 
of speech or manner; but regard for the nobility of his charac- 
ter, rather than any rhetorical art or chailn of personal ad- 
dress on his part, kept wavering lines from retreat in battle and 
from mutiny amid privations aud suffering to which our neglect 
had ex[iosed the soldiers of tlie Ifevolution. The men in the 
ranks and above the ranks were zealots, ready to be shot to 
death or starved to d^ath or frozen, to d?ath for the sake of 
such an inspiring leader, even when the Colonies had forgotten 
to clothe and to feed them after they had carried victorious 
arms in this unequal contest with tlie greatest military power 
in the world. He suppressed tlie dissensions of tlie men he 
gathered about him for the administration of his high ofiice, 
and lessened their antagonism; and, as a man of affairs and 
the possessor of v>eaUh, he had so mastered essential business 
jirinciples tliat lie knew how, l>y encouraging manufacture and 
thrift and enterprise, to bind up the wounds of a people wasted 
and impoverished liy the exhaustion of prolonged war. What a 
priceless possession to his conntryiiieii is tlie splendid record of 
the achievements of such a many-sided, well-balanced, noble 
man. 

" So all discus-sion of Washington ends — whether it be in tlie 
brief address or in the ptages of the biographer or historian— 
Willi panegyric, and without the opportunity of tlie most exact- 
ing criticism to point to any conspicuous act of his which we 
to-day would wish to have otherwise, either for his fame or 
for the example of liis life. 
33532 — 10G77 



13 

" No wuiider that Wi^bstev sakl— 

••America has furnished to tho world tlie character of Washington. 
And if our American institutions had done nothin;; else, that alone 
would have entitled them to the respect of mankind. 

" He Stands amoug tho great men of this country and among 
the great men of all countries, not only on the many pedestals 
of our handiwork, but on the eminence of our admiration and 
gratitude, as a splendid, commanding, heroic figure, the embodi- 
ment of those traits which go to malve up true manliood and 
true greatness in the world. What Tennyson not unfairly said 
of Wellington can even more justly be said of Washington — • 
that he both saved and served the State; that for him the 
path of duty was the way to glory, and that there should be 
eternal honor to his name. 

I'kesent-Day Proelems or the Republic. 

"And let us and all -loyal Americans resolve that the spirit 
of Washington, so manifestly in the midst of us on such occa- 
sions as this, shall go with us, as with gratitude and hope re- 
newed and loins girded about we face the future. That future 
will not open for us always a pleasant prospect. AVe shall not 
always be blessed witli prosperous times. Corresponding to 
those lemporary setbacks to our health wherein Nature gives 
her warnings whenever we are making too great a draft upon 
mind or body, we shall have our periodical depressions when 
we are imiirudent in the affairs of our liusiness life. The.se 
need not unduly concern us, for, as we come to have a stable 
currency and a better understanding of the economic workings 
of the laws of supply and demand and do not overlook some 
considerations which are not always in accord with tho strife 
for mere money return, these depressions should be appreciably 
less and less in number and importance. 

"We have, however, problems of a more serious nature con- 
fronting us for solution, and doubtless they will increase a.s 
time goes on. We, as a people, have tolerated the doing of 
things which must be undone or made right an«l not condoned ; 
we have at times set too much st(jre by mere material success 
and judged as of minor consequence things which broaden and 
elevate and ennoble a nation; we have made compromise with 
33.532— 10G77 



14 

things of evil iinpori. "We liave at times been unmiiulful of tlie 
rlglits of others as \Ye have hurried on to the realization of 
ambitious plans, and in our indifference to the demands of good 
eitizenship we have been guilty of or acquiesced in a course of 
conduct tliat has given rise to sullen expressions of an unrest 
to which we can not afford to bo unconcerned listeneis, for un- 
checked unrest is likely to breed discontent and discontent, in 
its turn, disorder. And unless we frankly recogu_ize this we 
shall liave no reasonable hope of correcting the conditions 
v.hich arouse, if they do not altogether justify, those expres- 
sions, and wliich are a menace not only to our continuing pros- 
perity but to our self-respect and our repute in the world. 
Again and again, as time goes on. in obedience to [lopular 
clamor, we shall ])e tempted to enact statutes unjust to labor 
or capital and not reiiresenting reflection and conviction, or 
statutes which are fairly certain to be iiicapable of enforcement 
and to bring the administration of the law into contenu.it. We 
sliall be tempted to hesit«ite and temporize concerning things 
demanding prompt and courageous action for the ]>ul)lic wel- 
fare. Again and again we sliall stand perplexed in wbich 
direction to go when we slnill liavo come to the crossroads of 
public duty and mere iiavty expediency or even self-interest. 
CUir way will l)o so sliut in by doubt that we sh.al! liesitale even 
as to a single step forward and upward. But tliere is one tlnng 
above all things to v.hich we may cling with a certain faith, 
tliat so long as we keep with ourselves a covenant to return to 
and abide l)y the principles of Washington's Farewell Address, 
so long as his character shall be remembered and revered l)y us, 
so long as we shall set his life aiMt his devotion before us as the 
best type and example of American citizenship to admire a.nd 
emulate, tins country can not falter in true progress nor in the 
end come short of its higli mission in the world. For then, 
during all time to come, we shall have for oiu- political guid- 
ance as a people the inspiration of his presence, which will !*e 
to us wliat for tlie moral guidance of men the Word of the I ord 
was to the psahnist of old — a lamp unto the feet and a light 
undo the path."" 



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